Artificial leg.



J. ELHANGER, In.

ARTIFICIAL LEG. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30. 2917.

[III 1/ Ill ' Patented Nov. 13, 191?.

'pertains more particularly to the unITEDs'rATEs PATENT oFFIcE.

JAMES E. HANGER, JR, or WASHINGTON, nIsTR cT or co'LUiaBIA, ASSIGNOR To I. n. HANGER, INCORPORATED, AeoRro ATIoN or THE nIsTRIcT or COLUMBIA.

ARTIFICIAL LEG.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that JAMES E. HANGER, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Artificial Legs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to artificial legs, and knee joint thereof. I

The object of my invention is to producea knee joint in which the bearing parts may be adjusted with relation to each other for the purpose of tightening the contacting.

surfaces tocompensate for the wear produced by use, and thus adjust the action of the knee to prevent lost motion in the knee joint and 'to' accommodate the knee action to the preference of the user of the leg. Another object thereof is to produce a knee .bolt carried on the lower leg section proparts,

vided with cone bearings adjustably carried on the knee bolt, adapted to be fitted into complementary bearing boxes carried in the thighsection and having means for locking the cone-bearings adjusted positions. A further object of the inventionis to produce a perforated cone-shaped lubricant holder interposed between the' bearing surfaces of the thigh section and the le section; and, a still further object of my nvention is to produce a more simple, cheap and efficient knee joint for artificial legs than has here'- toforebeen attained.

To theseends, my invention includes the combination and arrangement of component parts to be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters indicate similar Figure lis a vertical sectional view of an artificial leg provided with my, knee joint;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same; and,

i 1 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 13, 1917.

Application filed March 30, 1917. Serial No. 158,706.

with a, central slot 4 in the rear thereof extending from .its lower extremity to a point.

above the knee bolt to accommodate the On each side of the leg section is secured a vertical bar 8, the upper end of'which projects beyond the top of that section and is providedwith transverse eyelets 9 opposite to each other, in which the adjustable ends of the knee bolt are rigidly secured. Said kneex bolt comprises the threaded stem 10 having the coneshaped bearing 11. screwed on each end thereof extending into the eyelets on the side-bars 8% Said bolt stem. is also provided with a screw-threaded lfgbrelQ at'each end to receive the threaded stem of the lock screws 13 by which the kneebolt ,on the thigh section. So that when thus adjusted the component parts of the bolt may be' rigidlv clamped in position by the lock screws.

. For the purpose of lubricating the bearing 'fa ceslcf the cone-shaped bearing and the box in which it operates, I provide a coneshaped perforated thimble .15 corresponding in shape to the bearing surfaces, adapted to; be charged with a semi-solid lubricant 16.

As shown in the drawings, theback check 17 is secured at itsdower end to the back .10 and cone-bearings 11 are adjustably of the lower leg section, while the opposite end is preferably bifurcated at 18, and. is

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken flfiiified back to form the eyelets 19, which are interiorly screw-threaded to accommodate the threads-of the bolt stem 10. The

looped end 17' of the back-check may be secured to the body portion thereof by screws 19. I

A lever arm 20 is.carried on said bolt stem" preferablv between the forked members of the back-check, and a link 22, and a heel 23, may be'carrled on the outer free end thereof to accommodate the looped suspendcr 24 fol-operating the knee joint.

. What I clann as new and desire to be a secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In an artificial leg, the combination with a thigh section and a lower leg section, of a knee bolt pivotally connecting same and rigidly connected withthe lower leg section, bearing boxes carried on the thigh section for said knee bolt, bearings secured on said knee bolt to be carried in.said boxes on the thigh section, and means for adjust-ably regulating the pivotal bearings between the thigh section and the lower leg section.

2. In an artificial leg, the combination with a thigh section and a lower leg section of tapered bearing boxes carried on the thigh section, a knee bolt carried on the lower leg-section, cone-shaped bearings ad- ]ustably secured on said knee bolt adapted to be carried in the tapered boxes on the thigh section, and. means for moving said lower leg section on said bearings. 3. In an artificial leg, the combination with a thigh section anda lowerlcg section,

of tapered bearing boxes carried on the thigh section, a screw-threaded bolt stem carried on the lower leg section, a coneshaped bearing threaded on each end of said bolt stem, adapted to be carried whenassembled in the bearing boxes on the thigh section, means for adjust-ably positioning said cone-bearings on the bolt stem to regulatethevfrictional contact between same and the bearing boxes, and means for securing said coneshaped bearings in fixed adjusted position, substantially as described.

In an artificial leg, the combination with a thigh section and a lower leg section of journal boxes carried on the thigh section, a knee bolt pivotally connecting said sections, bearings secured thereon, carried tion of tapered journal boxes carried on the thigh section, a screw-threaded bolt stem secured on the lower leg section, having screw-threaded bearings at each end, a coneshaped bearing having a screw-threaded bore therein, threaded on each end of the bolt stem, whereby the cone-shaped bearings may be adjustably positioned with relation tothe bearing faces of the journal boxes and a jam bolt threaded into the interior bore of the bolt stem for locking the bearing parts in adjusted positions, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the I XT nce of two witnesses.

7 JAMES HANGER, JR.

Witnesses: I

- PA n M. GoLEMAN,

MCCARTHY HANGER. 

